Memorial for BIFF Deputy Director Held in Busan
Filmmakers from South Korea and neighboring Asian countries travelled to Busan to pay their respect to the late KIM Ji-seok during a memorial service held on Monday, May 29th. 400 guests mourned the former deputy director and executive programmer of the
Busan International Film Festival. KIM passed away during a trip to the Cannes film festival earlier last month at age 57.
A moment of silence was observed at the beginning of the service, which was held at noon in the
Busan Cinema Center, the hub of the Busan International Film Festival. KIM’s remains were cremated in Cannes last week before returning to Korea.
A traditional three-day funeral began last Saturday, which was hosted by
OH Seok-geun, the head of the
Busan Film Commission, along with
LEE Yong-kwan and JAY JEON, the former director and deputy director of BIFF. Neither LEE or JAY attended the memorial service at the Busan Cinema Center.
During the ceremony, BIFF festival chairman
KIM Dong-ho offered a eulogy, saying “It seems like yesterday when you asked me to officiate your marriage, and but it pains me that you are making me play the villainous role of bidding you farewell.” KIM Ji-seok, KIM Dong-ho, LEE Yong-kwan and JAY Jeon founded the festival together in 1996.
Guests at the event included local directors such as
IM Kwon-taek,
CHUNG Ji-young and
LEE Chang-dong, while foreign attendees included KOREEDA Hirokazu of Japan and TSAI Ming-liang of Taiwan, among others.